Miscellaneous Musings

[Alex Kowalski]

BTW just in the "miscellaneous musings" file:

It seems to me that as these cars get older, no matter how well they're
running, you need to do a full, thorough inspection and fixer-up once a
year.  All the work I've done so far could have been handled in a weekend if
I had planned that in advance.  For example, while I was reinstalling the
plastic plenum shroud, I had a chance to take a good look at the vacuum and
breather hoses.  Everything was fine, no splits, just a little bit of oil
mistiness on one, however, I did find two loose hose clamps:  one in the
large line that goes directly into the airbox assembly.

It just POURED rain where I live and I went back out to check my plenum
cover and recirc door repairs:  tight as a drum.  And I ran the car during
the storm and the climate control system is now working perfectly, pumping
out nice, relatively dry air through the proper vents at the right time.  A
few months ago I swapped the A/C programmer with one from Force5 and it's
good to know that this one is still working well.

I would advise anyone who owns one of these cars of this vintage to pick up
a spare A/C programmer the next chance they get.  The problem is that the
vacuum solenoids go south, but if you have two or three, as I do, you can
swap it relatively easily and/or cobble together a good one using the parts
from others.  I think we're in the phase of these car's lives where saving
good spares is essential to their use over the next ten years, and every
year you need to do a thorough once-over.

Alex Kowalski
'87 5KCSTQ
'86 5KCSTQ


On 5/21/06, Alex Kowalski <hypereutectic1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  I was thinking of that but had the epoxy handy.  It seems sturdy at this
> point, but if it fails again that's going to be the next step.  The
> cross-piece where the spring connects up snaps almost exactly in the middle
> and then the spring just sneaks its way between the two halves.  Thanks for
> the suggestion about the airbox.  That clip at the back is almost impossible
> to see, much less open and close, unless you are PlasticMan.
>
> Alex Kowalski
> '87 5KCSTQ
> '86 5KCSTQ
>
> PS The archives were slow today for reasons I don't understand, but after
> a half hour of getting back partial pages, I gave up.
>
>  On 5/21/06, Kneale Brownson <kneale at coslink.net> wrote:
> >
> > If you'd been able to access the archives more easily, you'd have run
> > across postings recommending installing a metal bridge over the
> > crosspiece
> > so the spring can't cut through it again.  I folded a little piece of
> > tin
> > and poked a hole through both layers just below the plastic bar to hook
> > the
> > spring through when I did my 87.
> >
> > The big issue to replacing the air filter is getting the spring clips on
> >
> > the airbox open.  I took the heavy hook off a wooden pants hanger to use
> > as
> > a clip tool.  A screwdriver with the end heated/bent into a hook would
> > work
> > too.
> >
>